HijiNKS ENSUE Podcast: Frequently Asked Questions Part 3
This is another page of HijiNKS ENSUE Podcast: Frequently Asked Questions. How did you guys meet? - How did the comic / podcast get started? Audio Josh & Eli worked together in GearBox, Joel met Josh and became friends while Joel was at college (not in college). Josh went to Europe for a few months, followed by working for a game company in Minnesota. Joel and Eli were left to find a common connection between the two of them, and eventually did. Josh returned to his old job in Texas, reuniting the group. Joel got to know more about Eli, Josh, and a lot of others like Allison and Denise through his lunches with the Gearbox crew. After Joel's daughter was born, Joel began to question what he was doing with his life. He was working a sales job that he did not enjoy, and felt that he was wasting his life. Joel started the comic to practice his comic skills. The comics were based on the conversations Joel had during GearBox lunches, as well as Instant Message conversations between himself, Eli, and Josh. While he hoped to slowly build his audience, he soon spent so much time working on the comic and podcast that he got fired from his real life job. After analyzing how much money he had savings, he decided to take a chance and try to make HijiNKS ENSUE his full time job. Joel created The Vault, to encourage donations and subscribers. Joel also created T-shirts based off of different comics. Joel also found a sponsor for the podcast, Infinistorm. Joel also does commission work on the side to create an extra source of income. You can find more details at The Experiment and The Manifesto. Where do you guys live? In the Dallas / Fort Worth area of Texas. How many listens does the podcast get / How many readers does the podcast get? Audio As of February, he podcast peaked at 3,000 listeners, but that dropped to 600 when the Podcast length got to be too long. Joel shortened the format, and gained 2,000 listeners as of mid-February, with 1000 uStream viewers, however, as the podcasts lengthened again, there was another drop off in listeners, and another shortening of the podcast. The webcomic has approximately 10,000 readers as of mid-February Where do you guys work Joel Joel has held a variety of jobs, however currently his only job is working as an artist. Joel works both on HijiNKS ENSUE as well as taking commission jobs. You can contact Joel at INSERT EMAIL LINK if you are interested in hiring Joel for any commission work. Eli Eli's explanation from RobotBoots :I am a graduate of the Art Institute of Dallas in 1999. I spent a few years as a graphic designer for a print shop before heading to Gearbox Software where i spent 8 and a half years as an artist. I also have done freelance photography for the Dallas Observer, VYPE magazine, CG Textures, Irving Nimitz High School and other model and wedding photos. Josh Josh works as a Level Designer for GearBox. Before the podcast Josh had also worked on Project Zero in Minnesota, but returned to Texas to continue working at GearBox. Denise: Denise used to do HR work for GearBox, and continues to do HR work at a different company. Allison: Allison works as a community organizer in GearBox. Alex: Alex works for DallasObserver, which Joel will occasionally do commission work for. How did Josh and Eli get their jobs? Audio Eli Eli finished high school, and went to Community College for Desktop design (Newspaper print) but didn't find it challenging. He moved to Dallas and went to the Art Institute of Dallas, which he also did not enjoy. However, he met a person at the Art Institute that showed him art design for video games, and saw it was challenging. Therefore, he shifted his focus again to video game design. By chance, Eli was friends with the future president of GearBox (Randy). At the time, he had quit 3D Realms and had formed Rebel Boat Rocker (the predecessor to GearBox). Eli originally did contract work for them, before becoming a full time employee. Eli has an Associates Degree in Computer Animation, "which is not worth fuck" according to Eli. Eli handled the quality assurance department when he brought on Josh as a QA guy (paid in Pizza and $100). Josh In high school, Josh worked on the Sherman project (a mod) that would eventually lead to his current job. He graduated High School in 2000, went to UTD for a CS degree, but hated it. He saw a news post for a QA position in GearBox, applied, and forgot about it. Josh dropped out of college, worked for SBC before getting contacted by GearBox. Josh did testing for 2 weeks on Half-Life for the PS2, and was eventually hired as an assistant IT for GearBox. It was only after Josh did IT support for the employees working on Counter-Strike (and when he made a level for them in spare time) that he got hired full time for level design. Category:Podcast